Gloves come off for BFMJS at Royal Durban

15 Sep 2017

The gloves will come off when local favourites Chris Woollam and Sebastian Terblanche lead KwaZulu-Natal’s most promising young golf talents in the fourth Bridge Fund Managers Junior Series event at Royal Durban Golf Club on Sunday morning.

The nationwide series of 18 events for junior golfers under the GolfRSA banner launched in July.

The series features Under-13 and Under-18 divisions and is open to boys and girls. This marks the first time this new junior golf development initiative swings through KwaZulu-Natal.

“We were very excited to partner with GolfRSA and the South African Golf Development Board on this initiative to promote golf development across South Africa,” said Paul Stewart, Executive Director at Bridge Fund Managers.

“We believe that it is absolute vital to encourage young golfers to stay with the game, especially those just starting out. Since most tournaments cater for the lower handicaps, we extended the series to include golfers of all skills levels to compete in this series.

“It is imperative to motivate young golfers, particularly golfers under 13 and beginners, to stay the distance. This is why the series includes different age and various handicap divisions. By giving these youngsters some incentives to test themselves in a competitive environment, we can encourage them to continue their journey with golf.”

Prizes are awarded in all the divisions, however, the big prize is just for the Under-18 A-Division winners.

“Once the Bridge Fund Managers Junior Series wraps up in March, we will host two regional qualifiers; one in the south and one in the north,” said Stewart. “The winners will be flown to the United States to compete in the prestigious Junior North and South Championship at Pinehurst next year. We already crowned three champions in the south and we are excited to see who will be our first North Regional final qualifier on Sunday.”

Terblanche, a plus-two handicap, narrowly lost the Nomads Coastal Order of Merit event at Royal Durban to top ranked Garrick Higgo earlier this season and the 17-year-old should do well with the home course advantage.

Woollam from Maritzburg enjoyed his first success of the season in the Sanlam SA Amateur Match Play Championship in March where he held off the cream of South African golf and top international campaigners to win the stroke play qualifier.

In July, the two-handicapper won the Durban Country Club Junior Championship and more recently, he went head-to-head with Durban High School’s Terblanche at Mount Edgecombe, where he helped Hilton College to victory in the Nomads School Team Championship.

On paper, Terblanche and Woollam are the clear favourites, but there are a few talented players who could surprise.

Jonothan Broomhead from Durban Country Club won no less than three local events in the July holidays, Astin Arthur from Umhlali claimed the Nomads Pee Wees Trophy at Kloof and Ruben van den Berg from Maritzburg won the Wild Coast Sun Junior.

Sthembiso Khaba and Sandile Ngcobo from the South African Golf Development Board also showed some great promise at the Wild Coast Sun Country Club with ties for third and sixth respectively.

And the local crowd best watch out for Amilkar Bhana from Gauteng.

The 12-year-old from Country Club Johannesburg will be trying to get an early jump on qualifying for the North Regional Final and already proved his mettle this season.

Bhana walked away with the SA Under-15 Challenge title at Gowrie Farm, scored a fifth place finish in the Under-15 Challenge of the Dimension Data Junior Open at Fancourt and finished fourth in the Sun City SA U-13 and U-15 Challenge in July..

Bridge Fund Managers is a specialist asset manager operating in the retail, institutional, private clients and stockbroking markets. At BRIDGE we harbour and nurture our clients’ hard-earned assets. Our unique Payers & Growers® investment methodology is designed and actively managed to assist investors in securing high and growing income streams and inflation-beating capital returns through their investment portfolios. For more information please visit http://www.bridgefm.co.za.

Written and released by Lali Stander on behalf of GolfRSA, a SAGA and WGSA Not-For-Profit company.

Introducing GolfRSA

The new Golf RSA is now live. You can visit golfrsa.com for all the latest news and information on amateur golf in South Africa.